Warner Bros could lose up to US$100m on Justice League

These are strange days, when a film can make US$96 million at the box office and still be considered a failure. But given that Justice League is the first DCEU film that has failed to make at least US$100 million in its domestic debut, Warner Bros now appears poised to make a heavy loss on the blockbuster.

Forbes is reporting that Justice League (see our review) may eventually lose between US$50 million and US$100 million. This is based on expert estimates of a US$300 million budget, with an additional US$150 million global marketing budget. They reckon that all in, the movie cost the studio $600 million, including processing fees.

To date, Justice League has made more than US$286 million globally and is on course to gross roughly US$635 million worldwide. However, Warners doesn’t get to keep all of that due to shared distribution returns. Theatrical gains and projected home video sales then add up to US$545 million in revenue.

This means that the studio stands to lose at least US$55 million, a loss exacerbated by the fact that Warners had been hoping to interest audiences in spinoffs starring The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman.